After a year, Elliott, Isabel and her mother come to Paris. It tells the story of Larry Darrell, an American pilot traumatized by his experiences in World War I, who sets off in search of some transcendent meaning in his life. Maugham deduces this after seeing Sophie in Toulon, where she has returned to smoking opium and promiscuity. But his outlook on death is somewhat positive: "I have always moved in the best society in Europe, and I have no doubt that I shall move in the best society in heaven. ( Log Out / This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Razors-Edge-novel-by-Maugham. She does not understand his desire to learn and more significantly, cannot bear the thought of possibly spending all their lives in what she sees as poverty. [3][4] Maugham's suggestion that he "invented nothing" was a source of annoyance for Christopher Isherwood, who helped him translate a verse 1.3.14 from the Katha Upanishads for the novel's epigraph – उत्तिष्ठ जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत | क्षुरस्य धारा निशिता दुरत्यया दुर्गं पथस्तत्कवयो वदन्ति || (uttiṣṭha jāgrata prāpya varān nibodhata| kṣurasya dhārā niśitā duratyayā durga pathas tat kavayo vadanti|| ) – which means "Rise, wake up, seek the wise and realize. Larry consequently has no desire to work, but wants to learn and relax. Larry has been traumatized by the death of a comrade who sacrificed himself on the last day of the war to save Larry. The meaning of “the razor’s edge” A correspondent writes:. He walks a/the razor edge between humor and bad taste in his comedy. Corrections? There she marries the millionaire Gray, who provides her a rich family life. Meanwhile, Larry works in a coal mine in France, where a drunk, debauched defrocked priest, Kosti, urges him travel to India to learn from a mystic. What does 'poke' refer to in the expression 'pig in a poke'. Some time later the Holy Man comes to visit. Sophie runs away, screaming, and disappears. She has already told Maugham that she plans on seeing as much of Larry as possible when she and Gray return to the States. In this second Coffee Talk I will talk about the different character’s meaning of life.
Elliott’s last act is to dictate a proper reply. He tells her he may end up buying a taxi. Change ), the characters all have different visions and aspirations, for example, for Elliot Templeton’s to have a meaningful life means to be recognized for money, success, and high social class. 123Helpme.com. Larry Darrell's lifestyle is contrasted throughout the book with that of his fiancée's uncle Elliott Templeton, an American expatriate living in Paris and an unrepentantly shallow yet generous snob. Some people find happiness in a family life, others in making money, there are also those who manage to combine. The night before she returns to Chicago she sets out to seduce Larry, planning to write later and tell him that she is pregnant, thus tricking him into marriage. The stars had not yet been cast; Larry Darrell was played by a stand-in and was filmed in extreme long shot. The “loafing” that Larry does wasn’t only to find peace, but to give Isabel a chance to find someone with a life plan. Larry is beaten and thrown into the street; his last endeavour to reclaim his childhood companion from her depravity and despair has proved fruitless. In August 1945, producer Darryl F. Zanuck had the second unit begin shooting in the mountains around Denver, Colorado, which were to portray the Himalayas in the film. The 1929 stock market crash has ruined Gray, and he and Isabel are invited to live in her uncle Elliott Templeton's grand Parisian house. Immediately after Eliott’s death, Isabel learns that Larry is leaving that night. What he actually found in India and what he finally concluded are held back from the reader for a considerable time until, in a scene late in the book, Maugham discusses India and spirituality with Larry in a café long into the evening. At last, they talk honestly—at least Sophie does. Its epigraph reads, “The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard.” taken from a verse in the Katha-Upanishad.
Elliott "sold short" before the crash and "made a killing" in the market. The doubtfulness in his engagement shows that he wants to be in love, but it becomes questionable when he isn’t capable of providing for. When Elliott, who has been waiting up for her, asks why she didn’t go through with it, she answers that it was her “better nature.” Elliott scoffs and says it was her “Midwestern horse sense”—she will forget him.
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